Published on 10/25/2021
This Article Is a No Bones Article
By Carsten Haese, Nathan Long, Justin Hovdenes, and Andrew Villarrubia
This Article from: Andrew Villarrubia
Cranial Translation
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Note: This article is over two years old. Information in this article may be out of date due to subsequent Oracle and/or rules changes. Proceed with caution.
Squid 456 enters the battle!
There's this other saying that says "Those that can't do, teach." Since I'm pretty much unavailable for judging live events for the foreseeable future, I have tons of time to teach! That means many lovely questions (except about Panglacial Wurm) and many thrilling answers.
Also, I have a puppy now. Her name is Roux. She is cute.
As a friendly reminder, if you'd like the CI team to answer your question, please send it to us via email at moko@cranialinsertion.com or tweet it to us @CranialTweet. We answer every question we get, and your question could show up in a future article.
Q: I control Sand Squid. Can I activate its ability targeting my opponent's Grizzly Bears, hold priority, untap the Squid with Twiddle, then activate its ability again targeting my opponent's Bear Cub?
A: Well... You can do this, but you won't have the outcome you want. The first ability's duration ended before it begin, because your Sand Squid didn't remain tapped. Their Grizzly Bears will be tapped now, but it will untap during its controller's untap step as normal.
The Bear Cub, however, will remain tapped, stuck in your Squid's noodly appendages until the Squid untaps.
Q: My opponent controls Kor Firewalker. If I target my opponent with Skullcrack, can I deal damage to their Firewalker?
A: You can if the other spell you're casting to deal damage doesn't target. For instance, you couldn't cast Lightning Bolt targeting the Firewalker because protection from red means it can't be targeted by red spells. A red spell that doesn't target, like Pyroclasm, would deal damage to the Firewalker just fine.
Q: My commander is Sephara, Sky's Blade, she's in the command zone, and I've cast her once already this game. I control four untapped creatures with flying. Can I cast her for her alternate cost?
A: You can, but the commander tax will still apply. Her alternate cost of
and tapping four untapped creatures you control with flying only replaces her "base" mana cost of 
. You'll still need to pay any cost-increasing things like the 
from commander tax.Q: Let's say I make a token with Rionya, Fire Dancer. If I make a copy of that token, does the copy have haste? Is the answer the same or different if I make the first token with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker?
A: There's a subtle difference in how their token-creating effects are worded.
Rionya's ability first has you make the token; then the token gains haste. Because the ability gives the token haste after it's been created, that haste is not part of the token's copiable values. Any copy made of that token will not have haste.
Kiki-Jiki's ability, on the other hand, makes a copy of something except it has haste. The ability makes a token copy with an exception to the copy process, so that exception becomes part of the token's copiable values. Any copy made of that token will have haste.
Reminds me of that time I cloned my dead partner
A: Unfortunately not. Your copy isn't a transforming double-faced card, so it can't transform. You'll still do everything else the ability tells you to do, including removing the ritual counters on it.
Q: My opponent controls Living Plane and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. Can I Disenchant Living Plane in my upkeep and avoid having to pay
to keep my lands alive?A: Nope. The first thing that happens in your upkeep is all your creatures' triggers go on the stack. You won't have priority to Disenchant the Living Plane until those triggers are already on the stack, waiting for you to pay them.
Q: How does Glacial Chasm interact with Solemnity?
A: Solemnity will prevent you from putting age counters on the Chasm, but you'll still have to either pay the cumulative upkeep or sacrifice it. Luckily, if your Chasm has zero counters on it, paying 0 life is very easy to do.
It's maybe worth noting that if you really want to sacrifice your Chasm for some reason, you can refuse to pay 0 life.
Q: If I cast Archmage's Charm on my opponent's Utopia Sprawl, can I attach Sprawl to one of my own Forests?
A: Unfortunately not. While you'll control Sprawl now, nothing about changing control lets you change what it's attached to. It will remain attached to the enchanted Forest, and it will still give that additional mana to the Forest's controller if the Forest is tapped for mana.
Basically, the only benefit here is that you control the Sprawl for things that care about that like Agent of Treachery.
Q: I control Grizzly Bears and Muraganda Petroglyphs. If I cast Distortion Strike targeting my Bears, will it still have the +2/+2 from Petroglyphs?
A: It will! Distortion Strike doesn't give an ability to your Bears. Rather, it changes the rules for blocking by saying your Bears can't be blocked.
Q: I control Reliquary Tower, then cast Thought Devourer. What is my maximum hand size?
A: You still don't have one! Since you no longer have a maximum hand size thanks to Reliquary Tower there's nothing to reduce, so your Thought Devourer will have to go hungry.
Q: I control Fiend Hunter that exiled my opponent's Colossal Dreadmaw. I cast Cytoshape to make my Fiend Hunter a copy of my opponent's Duplicant, which is exiling Grizzly Bears. What is my Duplicant's power and toughness?
A: Your Duplicant will be a 2/4. Duplicant and Fiend Hunter both have what's called a "linked ability," and the rules for those basically say that you can never mix and match. Duplicant's seconod ability can only ever refer to a card specifically exiled by its imprint ability; any other card exiled for any other reason won't count.
Q: I control Swarm Intelligence. If I cast Krosan Grip, do I still get the copy?
A: You do! Split second only prevents activating abilities and casting spells. It doesn't prevent triggered abilities or copies of spells being put on the stack.
Q: I control Whisperwood Elemental and Nature's Revolt. If I've manifested a land card from Whisperwood Elemental's end step trigger, can I later turn that land face up?
A: No, for a couple of reasons.
First, in order to turn something face-up with manifest, the object needs to be represented by an actual creature card. We don't apply any continuous effects here; if the face-down card doesn't have "Creature" in its typeline, we can't ever turn it face up with manifest.
Second, even if the face-down thing is Dryad Arbor, it doesn't have a mana cost for you to pay so there's no way to turn it face-up.
Wrenn Simmons and the 76ers
A: No, you can't. You can only play the back face of a modal double-faced card if you're playing it as a land or casting it as a spell. If you're just "putting" it into play, you can only put in the front face.
Q: My friends and I are playing Commander. Andy has been attacking me with their commander all game, so I have 20 commander damage from their Abomination of Llanowar. Now, I control a Lich's Mirror. If their commander hits me again, what happens?
A: Technically, Lich's Mirror will replace you losing first. You'll do everything it says... but! Lich's Mirror doesn't reset the commander damage you've taken. Once you finish handling its replacement effect, the game then sees that you still have 21 or more commander damage. You'll lose for real this time since you don't have your Lich's Mirror around to save you.
That's all the time I have this week, friends. If you're celebrating Halloween, have a great spooky time! I might dress my dog up in a goofy costume and go hang out at a local pub.
- Andrew
About the Author:
Andrew is a Level 2 judge from Dallas, TX who spends too much time on his computer.
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